About Us

About the New Directions Cello Festival

One of the NDCA&F’s main projects is the New Directions Cello Festival, an annual symposium on the state of the alternative cello. See the Festival pages for information on events past, present and future.

WHY JOIN? If you value what we are doing please support us by becoming a member! If you are a cellist and you are into jazz, blues, new age, rock, Latin, fiddling, experimental, world music, reggae, funk, or any other style, then the NDCA&F is the organization for you.

You will receive two issues of Cello City Online, discounts and information about our festivals and know you’re supporting a good cause! If you let us know what you do (contact us!), we will also have you on file for our referral service. (We get calls and e-mails from around the country and around the world for ideas and advice, and from people looking for cellists who live in a certain area and play in a certain style).

If you have not yet joined or need to renew your membership, please visit the “join” page. Learn more about how our history by reading Chris White’s article, Looking Back.

The New Directions Cello Association and Festival Inc. (NDCA& F) is a 501c3 not for profit organization that has created a network for the growing field of alternative and non-classical cello. The goals of the NDCA&F are to encourage interaction among non-classical cellists, and to promote awareness among all cellists and the musically oriented public about the contributions that cellists are making in many styles of contemporary music. This encompasses those musical styles which are not commonly taught to cellists at music schools (jazz, blues, rock, folk, experimental, ethnic, etc.) especially those involving improvisation.

The NDCA&F publishes an electronic newsletter called Cello City Online twice a year which contains interviews, reviews, articles, and other information related to non-classical cello.